Genuine question so please don’t hate on me. It seems to me that china now is more of a mixed market than a planned economy. Billionaires and class disparities definitely still exist in China and it seems like american communists almost romanticize china while ignoring obvious flaws in its system, only because they (rightfully) hate america and america hates China. China also supplies all of the world’s exploitative corporations with the vast majority of their goods. While China is probably better than the capitalist economies of the west, I don’t understand why a lot of people seem to hold it in the same regard as the USSR.

  • wtypstanaccount04 [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    In fact, a fringe benefit to allowing some people to get incredibly rich is that it keeps that kind of person out of the government. Actually existing socialist states had issues where opportunistic people who just wanted to be wealthy and successful would enter the party and the state, steal everything they could, and ideologically decay the party. It’s probably a significant reason the USSR fell- the Nomenklatura elites wanted to get rich and they killed the socialist project. It might be better to just let some people become billionaires but marginalize them politically than give them the keys to state-owned industries where they can amass tremendous wealth and power, but teem with frustration that they can’t have anything nicer than a luxurious apartment and a dacha.

    This is a super interesting point I had never thought about, thank you!